cleoshep

Interesting about the depth. I know a teacher at Navasota who has several from the team. She told them about Silsbee's depth last week. One came to class on Monday and one told her, "Ms ___, you were right, they got a bench. I just couldn't keep up."

FWIW MaxPreps has them at 25 in its last poll and Silsbee is at No. 5. Hudson was 13 and Navasota was 14. Like the Tigers, the Lobos went 4 weeks into the football playoffs. They had a number of crossover players who got a late start and their basketball team only really gelled halfway through the season. The Lobos are coming off of an extremely emotional win against No. 6 Wylie which included an epic 20 - 8 final run to win Region 1. They've got to be totally pumped after that. They just may capable of pulling off 2 upsets if they can catch some breaks. If they beat us I'm going to try to get a ticket and see the final because it could be something special. They have an almost legitimate 6-6 post in Williams that Silsbee will be fouling right and left. He'll go to the line a bunch of times. It would be real handy if he's not a good free throw shooter. Williams could also allow the Lobos to go over the top of Silsbee's pressure if they know how to do that. Their point guard Gerber is solid but I'm sure he hasn't faced pressure quite as intense as Silsbee will put on him. He'll probably go to the line more times in this game than he has in any two games so far. Again, it would be nice if he could struggle a bit with his FT shooting on Friday. They may be able to slow the ball down to some extent for at least 2 1/2 quarters. But then fatigue will become a factor. We saw it with Navasota. The Rattlers staged a brilliant comeback in the 3rd but burned a lot of fuel doing it. Then Silsbee just pulled away. Same thing was true of Hudson. Even No. 10 Garges, their space alien point guard, finally started to fade. Seems like he made 1000 good decisions through 2 1/2 quarters. But he started to run out of gas and became a good deal less effective from the middle of the 3rd on. Seems likely we will be able to do the same thing against Levelland. The Lobos have some talent and are on a roll and should be able to stay close or stage an early come back like Navasota. But can they hang on in the 4th against a team with 2 full platoons? Doesn't seem likely. The Tigers have been positively predatory so far. They may have a cat for a namesake but they hunt in a pack and can run all day like wolves.

When Silsbee is in a defensive grove, anticipating and intercepting passes, trapping and filling passing lanes intuitively, it's a thing of beauty. Of course taking chances on defense can be a recipe for getting burned and it risks foul trouble, but their speed helps mitigate that. They feed off each other's success and at it's best moments it becomes almost an organic thing. It's like they are not 5 separate players but one creature with five limbs working in concert. It's a high school basketball version of the Five Musketeers. All for one and one for all. If you've noticed, even the warm up regimen emphasises opportunistic defense. It's designed to get them into the that certain mindset. I don't know, sort of a pirate mentality. It's like Captain Blood's crew ravaging the seas for hapless ships to plunder. It looks chaotic but it's not really. At its best It's more like improvisational jazz music. There's method behind the madness. That's enough waxing lyrical, before I jinx the whole thing.

[quote name="AggiesAreWe" post="1379391" timestamp="1361838304"] First of all, the year was 1996, not '99. Secondly the team that beat Silsbee was Tyler Chapel Hill, not Jacksonville. Third, Silsbee did not go to the state semifinals the next year. Silsbee lost to CH 66-62 and then Cleveland knocked off CH 80-63 in the next round. BTW, Silsbee was undefeated at 31-0 entering that game, not "undefeated" at 31-1. ;) [/quote] 96?  I thought it was later than that.  And thanks for the team name, now I'll have it.  As you can guess it's one of my favorite stories to bore grandchildren with.  You must have been there and if you were then like me you know about fate.  Yates, may be a strong favorite but when fate takes a hand..... Out of curiosity far did the Tigers get the next year?  Wasn't Holden back?

I can remember a time when a 4A school was undefeated, 31 - 0 and ranked No. 1 going into the second round after a first round bye.  That team lost in the first round to a team that was not ranked.  The year was 1996 and the upset victim was.....  you guessed it, Silsbee.  I was there, some of you perhaps were there.  It was the most shocking upset I've ever seen in person at any level.  Silsbee had good height, excellent speed.  They were not a likely candidate for an upset because they won on defense.  They didn't have to depend on outscoring their opponents.  The defense was withering, and not just pressing full court but intense half court defense that disrupted anybody's offense.  Of course they could score, they could light it up.  Thaydeus Holden went on to become No. 10 all time at Tennessee in 3 pointers.  They could play above the rim when necessary.  Heck, the one white kid on the team could score impressive dunks in game conditions. It was somebody up north, Jacksonville I think.  They were a good team but not even good enough to win their district.  They weren't going to Austin, they were just happy to be there and if you're going out why not go out valiantly to the best, right?  Well that's not how it worked out.  Everything they threw up went in.  And the longer it went the worse it got.  It was like the Absent Minded Professor sneaked in and ironed flubber on their shoes.  They could do no wrong.  They couldn't believe it themselves when it was over.  I've seen teams celebrate after winning the State Championship in the Drum but I've never seen a high school team celebrate a win with such pure shocked elation.  Some of our guys were in tears of course but SO WERE SOME OF THEIRS!!! Just out of pure surprise and perfect joy.  It was like the last scene on the barricade in Les Miserables.  I think I saw long dead players from that school's distant past, back from the grave in spectral form, waving flags and singing the school song in upper deck.  We stumbled out of the arena there in Lufkin sort of in a daze.  I can remember through the nightmarish fog mumbling incoherently about it being God's will or something like that.  The next year Silsbee made it to the semifinals with a team that wasn't as good. It forever burned the "any given night" truism into my consciousness.  Does Silsbee have a chance?  Oh yea, at this level everybody has a chance against everybody.  My prediction?  I predict a 25 point win for Yates but I'm hoping for a surprise.